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The Banque de France

The Banque de France is an independent institution governed by French and European law, and a member of the Eurosystem, which is the federal system comprising the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro area.

Economics

The Banque de France provides economic expertise in the form of research, forecasts and contributions to international financial bodies. Through these activities, it helps to establish a complete diagnosis of the economy, which is necessary for the conduct of monetary policy.

Banknotes

The Banque de France carries out a broad range of cash-related activities: it issues banknotes, monitors recirculated banknotes and puts coins into circulation. It is also steering the modernisation of the cash cycle, in conjunction with its clients.

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The Banque de France

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Created in 1800, the Banque de France was initially located in the church and house of the Oratoire du Louvre. The Consuls' decree of 28 Nivôse Year VIII (18 January 1800) granted the church and convent that were occupied by the Conservation Générale des Hypothèques to the Banque for 27 years. The bank's first two general assemblies (24 and 27 Pluviôse Year VIII, 13 and 16 February 1800) were held there. However, the merger with the Caisse des Comptes Courants enabled the Banque de France to move into the Hôtel Massiac, headquarters of this rival bank located at Place des Victoires. The Caisse d’Amortissement (future Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations) took over the premises of the Oratoire and stayed until 1854 and the demolition of the cloister with the construction of the Rue de Rivoli. The Oratoire was granted to the Protestant Church in 1811.

The Banque de France's second headquarters was in a group of buildings surrounding the Hôtel Massiac, corresponding to numbers 2, 4 and 6 of the Rue d’Aboukir. It comprised three separate buildings: the former Hôtel de Massiac (1 Rue des Fossés-Montmartre renamed 2/4 Rue d’Aboukir), Hôtel des Économats (3 Rue des Fossés-Montmartre become 6 Rue d’Aboukir) and the Stourm House whose entrance was on Rue des Vieux Augustins (Rue d’Argout).

The Hôtel de Massiac was the former Hôtel de Pomponne, built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for François de l’Hôpital in 1635 and acquired by Simon Arnauld de Pomponne in 1673. The building was sold in 1723 to the Compagnie des Indes, whose headquarters was located there until 1756, when it was purchased by the family of the Marquis de Massiac. In 1778, it was leased to the Marquis de Marigny who occupied it until 1780. The building served as the headquarters of the “Club de l’Hôtel de Massiac”, the lobby of plantation owners opposed to the abolition of slavery. This Club Massiac which had been founded on 20 August 1789 was banned five years later (19 Ventôse Year II, 9 March 1794). After the denunciation of the Club's counter-revolutionaries by the Convention, seals were applied to the Hôtel Massiac, which was seized as national property and sold to Godard. He sold it on to the Caisse des Comptes Courants, which was ultimately absorbed by the Banque de France.

Hôtel des Économats (or Maison Perrot) was acquired by the creditors of Marchal de Sainscy and purchased at auction in January 1806 by the Banque de France. This building would become home to the Governor and Deputy-Governors.

Another adjacent building, the Stourm House, with its entry at 97, Rue des Vieux Augustins (today Rue d’Argout) was acquired in May 1807. These buildings were sold in 1812, after the transfer of the Banque de France to the Hôtel de Toulouse.

Report of the Minister of Finance to his Majesty the Emperor and King, 25 May 1808, ABdF

The third headquarters of the Banque de France is a set of properties surrounding the Hôtel de Toulouse which was acquired in March 1809. After almost two years of work, the Banque moved in in the winter of 1811.

The Festival at Saint Cloud by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

This masterpiece by Fragonard entered the bank's collections in 1806, at the time of the first nationalisation of the Banque de France, by Napoleon. The Emperor wished to control what he called “his bank”, and appointed a governor who was compelled to live in the “Palais de la Banque” itself. The Hôtel des Économats was purchased in January 1806 to house the governor (Emmanuel Crétet) and the two deputy-governors (Louis Charles Thibon and Jean-Baptiste Rodier). This residence, which had belonged to the creditors of the former Econome of the Clergy, Marchal de Sainscy, was quite certainly sold with the canvas by Fragonard and the three Casanovas. When the Banque moved to its present headquarters in 1811, the three paintings followed.

The Festival at Saint Cloud – the name it was given at the end of the 19th century – forms a set with the other canvases at the National Gallery in Washington (The Swing, Blindman's Bluff, A Game of Horse and Rider and A Game of Hot Cockles) which were probably cut from a larger painting.

The Festival at Saint Cloud by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

The three hunting scenes by Casanova

These three hunting scenes by Francesco Giuseppe Casanova, brother to the famous libertine, likely have the same origin as the Fragonard and once belonged to Marchal de Sainscy.

Hunting1Hunting2Hunting3

The two Boucher canvases

These two paintings by Boucher are part of a set of four (Sylvia Cures Phyllis of a Bee Sting, Aminta Rescues Sylvia Surprised by a Satyr, Sylvia Fleeing from a Wolf,Aminta Regains Consciousness in the Arms of Sylvia) inspired by Tasso's Aminta. The set was commissioned by Madame de Pompadour for her Château de Crécy, which was purchased in 1757 by the Duke de Penthièvre, son of the Count of Toulouse.

Sylvia Cures Phyllis of a Bee Sting and Aminta Rescues Sylvia Surprised by a Satyr decorated the bedchamber of the Princess de Lamballe in the Hôtel de Toulouse. The two other paintings which were hung at the Château de Chanteloup are now conserved at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours.

The ancient safe

This safe made of steel, burnished steel and gilded bronze (which according to oral tradition was owned by Fouché, Napoleon's Minister of the Interior) has a complex lock with many secrets. The keyhole is hidden behind a decorative feature of the right-hand door. It is revealed by moving the laurel branch that is located to the lower left of the door. The key must be turned and moved following a precise sequence to release the bolts. A secret compartment with three false bottoms is hidden inside the safe.

The ancient safe

The Suspended Auditorium

The suspended auditorium

The suspended auditorium was designed by the Moatti-Rivière firm which completed the restoration and design of the restaurant on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Like a box within a box, it is suspended from above by means of a reverse U structure. Its design in mirrored stainless steel panels utilised the most sophisticated of naval construction techniques.

The auditorium has a capacity of 200 seats. Its side panels are hung with a special material that provides perfect sound insulation and eliminates stray acoustic reflections. Its decoration repeats the theme of the four elements in the vaulted ceiling of the Galerie Dorée and the royal blue of its logo.